


Secrets

by earlgreyteawrites



Category: Voltron - Fandom, klance - Fandom
Genre: Bullying, Fluff, Hurt/Comfort, KEITH FIC, M/M, Vld keith - Freeform, keith kogane - Freeform, klance, klance fic, klance fluff, klangst, lance fic, lance mcclain - Freeform, lance serrano - Freeform, vld keith fic, vld klance - Freeform, vld lance - Freeform, vld lance fic
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-12-05
Updated: 2018-12-05
Packaged: 2019-09-12 11:34:51
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 4,587
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16872198
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/earlgreyteawrites/pseuds/earlgreyteawrites
Summary: Keith barely managed to wobble to his feet, stings of pain running up his spine as he did his best to try and stand. The whole world around him seemed blurry, but he knew that would go away in a few seconds. He squinted, looking around for his glasses and eventually found them through the dark spots his vision was creating. They were lying on the concrete only a couple steps away, much to his relief. He picked them up, finding that they miraculously hadn’t been broken or cracked before he fit them back onto the bridge of his nose, blinking. The dark spots didn’t fade, making him feel like he was going to faint, but Keith ignored what his body was telling him. Instead he made his way back inside, running in a lopsided fashion to the nearest bathroom, throwing himself inside.





	1. Chapter 1

   Keith barely managed to wobble to his feet, stings of pain running up his spine as he did his best to try and stand. The whole world around him seemed blurry, but he knew that would go away in a few seconds. He squinted, looking around for his glasses and eventually found them through the dark spots his vision was creating. They were lying on the concrete only a couple steps away, much to his relief. He picked them up, finding that they miraculously hadn’t been broken or cracked before he fit them back onto the bridge of his nose, blinking. The dark spots didn’t fade, making him feel like he was going to faint, but Keith ignored what his body was telling him. Instead he made his way back inside, running in a lopsided fashion to the nearest bathroom, throwing himself inside.

    Keith thanked god all of the after school activities had been moved to the middle school building. He couldn’t risk being seen like this. So despite his dizziness and the throbbing all over his body, Keith went back through the usual routine.

    He wet a paper towel, shoving it up his bleeding nose before grabbing another paper towel and beginning to carefully wipe off his scraped knees until they looked relatively normal. He checked himself in the bathroom mirror, making sure there wasn’t anything he’d missed before moving on to his backpack.

    The bruises on his face were fresh, meaning they still weren’t completely visible. Either way, Keith wasn’t taking the risk of anyone finding out. He grabbed the concealer he kept in his backpack for emergencies, proceeding to put some on his face until his cheeks no longer were purple and the area under his eyes didn’t seem quite as swollen. His arms and legs seemed fine, so he left them as they were, pulling the paper towel out of his nose. Finally it had stopped bleeding.

    For a moment, Keith just looked at himself in the mirror, hating every little detail it reflected back. Why couldn’t he just fight back? If it were any other time, he would. He was kind of known for getting ticked at people…so why was it so hard just to swing a punch on his end of the line?

    Keith wished he could answer that question, but he didn’t even know where to begin with that. After all…this was a lot different of a situation.

    Keith checked one final time before leaving the bathroom and beginning the five minute walk to the middle school, praying that he wouldn’t sweat his concealer off in the summer heat. But lucky for him, it didn’t seem to be as he walked quietly to the building across the parking lot.

    Outside the tennis players swung their rackets, kids jogged around the track, volleyball players yelled at each other in the sand. The marching band practiced on the field, their music sounding better than ever even though they just started the season. Keith watched as the band director shook his head, telling them it wasn’t right (it had sounded perfect to Keith), but nonetheless he dismissed them. Keith moved on, his eyes searching for the music hall. He could never remember exactly how to get there, partially because he often came to meet Lance in this state often, partially because the amount of concussions he very likely had didn’t help his memory. Keith still felt dazed as he walked around towards the front of the building, planning to ask one of the men in the office where to go. He barely managed to walk in a straight line (he didn’t want to look like he was drunk or high or anything, especially not in a school zone), but he somehow managed to just look tired and sweaty as he walked quietly. But as he turned the corner, he suddenly felt like cement.

    Standing in front of the middle school entrance happened to be two people, Lance and…

    Lotor.

    Keith almost retched, fear twisting in his guts. Anxiety pulled him every which way. Were the scrapes covered up? Did he look okay? Was there anything on his face? His arms? His legs? Oh crap…was Lotor going to say anything. Lance was taking him back over to his place for a sleepover after this, what if something happened, he needed to get there but how the heck was he supposed to do that when Lotor was talking to him?

    The only thing Keith could think of was to sit there, frozen solid as he watched the two interact. He was just far enough that he couldn’t hear what they were saying, but close enough that he was able to easily make out their features. Lotor was gesturing animatedly, a grin on his face while Lance was replying with a similar look.

    Once again, Keith almost vomited, his stomach doing a backflip. He could feel his own body trembling with fear. Maybe…maybe he could just call Lance? Or text him to come over-

    “Keith!” Lance suddenly exclaimed. Keith flinched at the sound of his name, looking towards Lance. He was waving, smiling brightly as he motioned for Keith to come over. Keith shook his head, beginning to stare at the ground. He was sure Lotor was quite happy about this, after all, he loved to see Keith suffer.

    Lance groaned, “You’re not going to make me walk all the way over there, are you?” Keith didn’t bother to reply. Lance just sighed loudly, smiling a little bit. “What am I going to do with you?” he announced, but began to walk over anyways…along with Lotor.

    Keith felt the hairs on the back of his neck standing up as they approached him, praying that his concealer wasn’t already starting to be sweated off. He barely managed to raise his head, looking at Lance.

    “Hey bud, what’ve you been doing?” he asked, ruffling Keith’s hair a little bit in a rather affectionate way. Keith felt himself blush a little bit. At this point, he didn’t know what to do. He could be honest and risk the both of them being beaten to a pulp, either that or be mocked, maybe even laughed at…or he could lie and hopefully get them out of here safe, but mostly himself. As he always did, Keith chose the ladder, avoiding the real problem once again.

    Lotor gave Keith a look that said ‘admit it or you die’ which only further encouraged Keith to mumble,

    “Studied in the library.” before going quiet again. Lotor smirked, satisfied with his blackmailing work. But Lance knew better than that. In fact, he probably knew Keith better than just about anyone.

    “…Something wrong? You don’t seem like yourself?” Lance asked softly, letting his hand linger in Keith’s fluffy hair a moment longer.

    “I-it’s nothing, I just can’t figure out how to do this stupid math problem.” Keith muttered. “It’s really frustrating.”

    “Ah, okay.” Lance replied, but his message was clear only to Keith, ‘Okay, we’ll talk about it later’, which honestly only made it even worse than it already was. Lotor seemed content to have scared Keith into submission, turning back to Lance.

    “Oh, speaking of math I got a perfect score on that test the other day.” he bragged, looking incredibly proud of himself. Keith didn’t see why Lotor should be so proud, after all, he cheated off of Keith’s test, which just coincidentally happened to have the same perfect score. If Keith could do anything about it, he would, but at this point he just felt so incredibly helpless.

    Lance and Lotor talked a little bit longer, smiles lingering on their faces, but LAnce eventually decided it was time to go.

    “Alright, let’s get going bud.” Lance gently prodded Keith with his elbow. Keith had to force himself not to flinch, accepting the gentle affection. But as Lance began to walk towards his car, Lotor grabbed him so firmly by the shoulder Keith could almost feel it crack. He froze once more, his body feeling like it had melted into a scared pile of goo. Lotor leaned down close to his ear, his voice harsh and malicious.

    “Just remember Keith, I won’t hesitate to inform him of your little secret.” he whispered, smiling in a way that reminded Keith of The Joker. He wanted to cry, maybe even throw up. But terror had prevented him from doing anything to release his fear. He only snapped out of his trance when Lance called him over.

    Keith wasn’t sure how, but he somehow managed to walk back, his limbs moving almost robotically. They felt so limp and useless that he wasn’t sure if he even had arms anymore. At least, not until Lance reached out, brushing his fingers against his skin.

    “You look pale. You okay buddy?” Lance asked, his voice filled with a gentle concern that Keith wasn’t used to hearing. It was sweet, his voice filled only with good intentions. He was truly the exact opposite of Lotor.

    Keith didn’t reply, he couldn’t bring himself to, especially now that he was aware of the consequences that could come.

    “Are you feeling nauseas, your lips are almost white.” he mumbled, his voice getting lower with concern.

    “I-I’m fine.” Keith lied.

    “No, you’re clearly not, what’s wrong?” Lance said quietly. Keith shakily got into the car seat. This was getting close, far too close.

    “Nothing.” Keith tried desperately to end the conversation, but Lance wasn’t having it. He got into the driver’s side, putting his hands on the wheel and sighing deeply. His blue eyes swirled as he gazed at Keith, his face scrunched up.

    “You tell me everything bud, why are you keeping this a secret? Are you hurt? Are you in danger? What’s going on?” Keith almost flinched, but somehow forced it down. He continued doing his best not to reply, gulping down tears. If he cried, his concealer would come off. By now his bruises had some time to grow different colors, they should be visible by now. And if his eye got any more swollen, well…that wouldn’t be good. But he forgot the one thing that would give him away.

    Keith’s adam’s apple bobbed dangerously as he tried his very best not to break down into tears. And Lance, unforchantly, noticed this.

    “Keith?” he asked gently, leaning closer. He situated his hand on Keith’s shoulder, eyes getting big. They always did that when Lance got worried, which just made Keith feel even worse.

    “…I don’t want to talk about it, not now.” Keith barely managed to choke out, “Later.” though he knew that last part would be a lie. If Keith so much as began to utter a single word about what was wrong, he knew that Lance would immediately try to defend him. And then, Lotor would tell Lance, and Keith would lose Lance. And losing Lance meant losing just about everything.

    Thank god Lance didn’t argue after that, simply saying,

    “Okay, I’ll give you time.” which helped Keith relax a little bit, but his heart rate went right back up as Lance moved his grip down to Keith’s hand, holding it gently. A little bit of warmth filled Keith as Lance continued to grip his fingers gently, shifting the car into drive.

    “I was thinking you could take a shower if you want while I make some dinner and then we could watch a movie on my laptop? That sound good?” Lance suggested softly, squeezing Keith’s hand. Keith felt his face flushing, but managed a nod. He couldn’t remember the last time he was touched so gently. All he was used to at this point was fists hitting his face, not tender hand holding like this, especially with…Lance.

    At this point, Keith wasn’t sure anymore what was going on between them. After a little bit of drama with Allura, Keith realized Lance was acting a lot different around him. He had been for months in fact. He flirted more, tended to be more touchy and they’d gotten extremely close. As in, sleepovers and going over to each other’s houses at least three times a week kind of close. Normally this would unnerve Keith a bit, but…in that time Keith had gotten a small crush on Lance. He’d known since childhood he was gay, yes, but being gay for Lance was kind of a different story.

    As far as Keith was aware, Lance was one hundred percent straight. So when Lotor got ahold of Keith’s notebook/diary with a few personal comments about Lance…one could imagine how terrified he would be. And for weeks, weeks he’d let the jerk blackmail him in order to salvage his secret. But deep inside, Keith knew he couldn’t keep this up forever, he had to come clean at some point.

    But by the time Keith started thinking about that, they had arrived home, Lance letting go of Keith’s hand.

    “Okay, take your shower, you want pasta right?”

    “Sure.” Keith replied, feeling even worse than before. Lance seemed to notice this, giving the boy a sympathetic smile.

    “Alright.” he mumbled softly, “Take anything you need from my closet, your clothes smell gross.”

    “Hey!” Lance just laughed,

    “I’m just teasing.” he jested, walking into the house. Keith sighed deeply, feeling just the slightest bit better as he followed Lance inside, walking upstairs towards the shower.


	2. Chapter 2

_I want to apologize if the Spanish isn’t correct, I had to use a translator since I don’t know enough!_

* * *

 

    Keith hated to steal, but at the moment he was a little desperate. He took one of Veronica’s makeup wipes, proceeding to carefully wipe the makeup off of his face before stepping into the shower and washing himself off. As always, he was fast and got out not even five minutes after he jumped in. Downstairs he could hear Lance’s family chatting in Spanish, the sound echoing through the door. They laughed together as plates clattered about, the smell of pasta and some sort of cake wafting through the door. Keith inhaled the scent, breathing in as much as he dared. His mouth watered as he slid a pair of Lance’s boxers over his thighs, the fabric hugging him tightly. But as he leaned down to slip on some pajama pants, the door burst open.

    Luis came inside, grabbing a hairbrush and rushing right back out. Seeing as this was a normal occurrence, Keith just ignored it, dressing his lower half. Thankfully, Luis had gone fast enough that he hadn’t noticed Keith’s state of undress, or his bruises.

    “Luis! Can you braid it?” he heard Rachel ask from downstairs. Ah, that was probably the problem. But as Keith moved to close the door and hopefully blot some concealer on his face, Lance came up, cheeks flushed from running around and cooking.

    A sinking feeling settled in Keith’s stomach as Lance paused, his eyes getting enormous. Something in his hands dropped to the floor, making a plasticy ‘clack’ as it hit the carpet. The happy aura surrounding Lance immediately fell flat, replaced with tension and worry.

    “Dios Mío…” Lance breathed out.

    “Lance!” Rachel called from downstairs.

    “¡Te ayudaré más tarde!” Lance replied, his voice shaking a little bit as he turned back to Keith. A lot of emotions flickered across Lance’s face, anger, fear, but most of all concern as he reached out and took Keith by the arm, pulling him out of the bathroom. Keith felt so limp and terrified he couldn’t even try to fight back, fear enveloping every instinct of his and snuffing it out as the boy pulled Keith to his room, shutting the door behind them.

    Keith should’ve thought about locking the door, he should’ve expected Lance to come flying in with Luis. There was so much he should’ve done that he hadn’t done and it was making him feel even worse.

    For a minute, neither of them spoke. Lance looked like he was about to cry, his eyes flickering every which way, like he was trying to process what had happened to Keith’s poor face. Keith tried to look away, but Lance just moved in the direction that Keith turned his head, forcing Keith to look him dead in the eyes.

    “What’s this?” he asked, gesturing to Keith’s bruises. Keith flinched, trying to look away, but it seemed impossible. He closed his eyes for a second before forcing himself to keep eye contact,

    “Nothing.” he lied.

    “Keith-”

    “It’s nothing!-”

    “ _Keith!_ ” Lance blinked back tears. “…Is someone hurting you?” in a moment of panic, Keith continued to stay stubborn.

    “No.” he mumbled.

    “Answer me!” Lance yelled.

    “I did!” Keith yelled back. The background noise from the kitchen suddenly went quiet. Both of them knew how thing the walls were in this house. Any little thing that happened meant nearly everyone could hear. Keith just prayed none of them could actually make out what Lance was saying.

    “Tell me the truth!” Lance demanded, walking up so close that if Keith so much as tilted his head their noses would touch. Lance reached up, taking Keith’s cheeks in his left hand. It wasn’t a harsh gesture nor a violent one. It was surprisingly gentle for the moment despite the fact that a tear was tracing down Lance’s nose and the fact that both of their eyebrows had pinched together, anger littering their expressions.

    Keith didn’t want to tell Lance the truth, because he felt that lying would have a better result than being honest. But at this point, he had made Lance cry…and he didn’t know what to do.

    “I-I don’t wanna tell you.” Keith blubbered, his voice breaking.

    “Why?” Lance demanded, though the harshness in his voice faded significantly. Now it was softer, more comforting. Keith could hardly force back sobs at this point.

    “I don’t want you to leave me.” he admitted, feeling a hot tear streak down his face. It burned the whole way down as he tried desperately to keep the rest at bay, but occasionally a couple would escape. He hiccupped and choked, Lance stunned into a momentary silence. “Everyone always leaves, I don’t want you to go too.” Lance stared at Keith a moment longer, his features falling. His hand fell from Keith’s face, instead wrapping around his shoulders. He pulled Keith tightly to his chest, holding him there.

    “…No baby, why would you think that?” he mumbled, “Don’t ever worry about that.”

    “B-but-”

    “Shh.” Lance mumbled softly, “Did I leave you when you came out to me? Did I leave you when you told me you were adopted? Or when you told me I was your best friend?” he asked.

    “N-no, but-”

    “Why would I leave you now?” he mumbled. Keith choked out a sob.

    “This is different than those things.” he cried. “I-If I tell you who it is then-…” Keith trailed off, breaking down into more sobs. Great, now he was going to know it was a person.

    “Who is it Keith?” Lance mumbled, “Why are they doing this to you?”

    “I-I don’t wanna tell you.”

    “B-but you’re in danger! I don’t want you to get hurt again, is it really worth getting beat up to keep whatever this secret is?!” Keith stayed silent for a moment, breathing shakily on Lance’s shoulder. If Lance found out Keith liked him, there would be one risk and another. The lesser was a stage of awkwardness, but the worse (and more likely), would be the end of their friendship. Either way, Keith was going to lose. He was going to be depressed and probably do something even more stupid during that time. And either way…he wouldn’t even know where to begin trying to fix this.

    “…Yes.” he finally replied. Lance’s entire expression fell, hurt spreading across his face. He was making the same expression that he did when he found out his grandpa died of old age in the hospital. He looked so hollow and depressed that Keith couldn’t even bare to look at it.

    Within only five months they had gotten so close, they had told each other just about everything and were completely honest. Their old little rivalry since elementary school had faded, replaced with only friendship.

    Friendship was an experience Keith had never had before, not like this one anyways. There was so much trust, there was so much affection and love in it that Keith hardly understood it, but Lance had helped him understand. But at this point, Keith was so caught up in the fact that he could be losing it that he didn’t realize keeping quiet about his problems was doing the same thing.

    Lance immediately assumed the worst.

    “Are you going to kill yourself or something?!” he asked, pure panic showing on his face.

    “NO!” Keith said quickly, trying to burn out the thought.

    “Then why is it worth going through this! Keith, what is so important about the thing that I can’t know? Why would you allow yourself to get hurt over this?!” Keith let out a sob. He hated this. He hated seeing Lance freak out and cry, he hated being put in a position that he couldn’t get out of, he hated _himself_ for being a coward.

    It hurt just enough, just enough that it all came flooding out.

    “Because _I like you!_ ” Keith yelled out, tears pouring madly down his face.

    “A-and Lotor knows, and he’s been blackmailing me for weeks over it! And I don’t want to lose you, but I know you’re straight and I can’t control my feelings but I’ve been trying so hard to and I just can’t do this anymore, I don’t want to argue with you, I-I c-can’t do th-this, I-I-…” he trailed off, sniffling like a baby. Lance’s entire body went slack. His jaw popped open just the slightest bit. He seemed shocked, but angry, yet also relieved? Keith was too devastated to try and interpret more than that.

    Keith’s knees gave out, forcing him to collapse, but Lance caught him before he could end up scraping his knees more than he already did.

    “It’s okay sweetheart.” Lance mumbled. “It’s okay, it’s okay, come here.” he carefully pulled Keith onto his bed, adjusting so that they were cuddled up to one another. Keith hyperventilated into Lance’s shoulder, hardly able to breathe.

    “…Lotor, that who you said it was?” Lance asked quietly. Keith gulped in more air, nodding. “I’ll report him-”

    “No.”

    “Yes. I’m not letting the boy I love get beaten up.”

    It took a moment for Keith to process what Lance had said, his heart steadily getting faster and faster in his chest. He barely managed to lift his head, staring at Lance in awe as tears spilled out of the corners of his eyes.

    “You-”

    “Yeah, I love you too.” Lance mumbled softly, dipping down and pressing a kiss against Keith’s forehead. “And I’m not letting you get hurt. You have to promise you’ll tell me these things if they ever happen again.”

    “Y-you-”

    “Promise first.” Lance held out his pinkie. Keith shakily held out his own, linking it for a second before letting go. Lance paused a moment, letting out a deep sigh. His cheeks went rather pink, slowly turning to red as he stared at Keith.

    “I was actually going to tell you I’m bisexual, but I was trying to work up the courage for a while because I figured if I told you I was bisexual I’d want to tell you that I liked you and that you were the one that made me realize I was bisexual…I guess I should’ve said it a little sooner.” he laughed in a way that sounded a little hollow, but still a little humorous.

    “Yeah.” Keith sniffled, feeling better all of a sudden. “I wish you had too.”

    Smiles began to linger on both of their lips, happiness spreading through their bodies, warming them like sitting next to a fire.

    “…So, when did you start liking me?” Lance asked. Keith felt his face blaze with heat, but replied flusteredly anyways,

    “I think a couple months ago.” he admitted, hiding his face in Lance’s chest. Lance giggled,

    “Aw, you’re so cute.” Lance was delighted by this point, smiling even bigger when Keith continued to flusteredly hide in Lance’s shirt. Keith didn’t reply other than a small groan of embarrassment as Lance laughed a little bit longer before admitting, “But…same. I’ve liked you for a couple months too.” and went back to holding him tight.

    A moment of silence passed between them, a one so comforting and warm that it was even better than the first wave of happiness. They hugged each other tightly, burying their faces into each other and smiling like idiots.

    “…Is this what you were worried about. You thought I was going to leave you over a crush?”

    “Yeah…” Keith begrudgingly admitted.

    “You know, even if I didn’t like you back I never would’ve left you.” Lance mumbled softly. Keith opened his mouth to retaliate, but Lance ended up getting the first word. “I care about you and how you feel. I know you’re sensitive to rejection, I wouldn’t want to put you in that position again. But you don’t have to worry about that Keith, because it didn’t happen.” Lance squeezed Keith for a moment before moving to look Keith in the eyes. Keith felt his heartbeat steadily rising. “Understand?” he asked softly.

    “Y-yeah…” Keith mumbled quietly, feeling his eyes drifting down to Lance’s lips. He caught himself in the act, blushing as Lance smiled at him.

    “You wanna kiss me?” he asked gently. By now Keith’s face had shifted to a bright and prominent red. There was still a lingering feeling that it might not be okay, but before he could have any anxiety about it, Lance cupped Keith’s cheek. “…Do you want to kiss?” he asked, leaning a little bit closer, but waited for Keith to give the okay.

    Keith barely managed to nod, warm feelings erupting through his body as they made contact.

    Though Keith would likely never admit it, he had never kissed someone before this moment. Lance had of course, he was making Keith feel more comfortable than ever in his arms, but Keith was a little worried about how Lance felt.

    “I-I’m so bad at this.” Keith stuttered flusteredly as they took a small break for some air.

    “No you’re not.” Lance giggled softly, dipping back in. This time it was even softer, even sweeter. It felt like he had placed himself inside of a kiss scene in a Disney movie, the innocence and gentleness of love flowing within him after a tough fight. And as Keith kissed Lance just a moment longer, he realized he had nothing to be scared of anymore.

    The blackmail Lotor had was now useless. He didn’t have to get beat up, he didn’t have to suffer because Lance now knew and he had accepted Keith. He could report Lotor, and if Lotor tried to mess with him, Keith would be able to fight back.

    It was over.

    It was all over.

    And as they continued to kiss, relief flooded through Keith. He had nothing to worry about, not anymore. Lance would be there for him, and it would all work itself out. It was okay.

    Lance pulled back, his hand still cupping Keith’s cheek gently.

    “I love you.” he grinned like an idiot, Keith mimicking the expression almost instantly.

    He could get used to this.


End file.
